This Week’s Events: Feb 18 – Feb 24, 2008

Thursday, February 21

Seattle Art Museum - Opening day for new exhibition, “Roman Art from the Louvre,” an extraordinary selection of ancient art from Paris’s famed Musée du Louvre, which portrays nearly 300 years of imperial Roman life and history. The exhibition includes approximately 180 pieces, many that have never before traveled to the United States, from one of the richest collections of ancient Roman art in the world. February 21–May 11, 2008.

Gage Academy of Art – In the Artist's Tool Kit discussion series, “Craig's Strategic List,” featuring Mr. Craig Kosak, outlining four strategies emerging artists can use to get their careers off the ground, from finding the appropriate market to signing with the right gallery. 12:30-2 pm, in the Geo Studio, Room 304, Third Floor. Free and open to the public.

Open Satellite – Opening reception for “Nearer to Thee,” an exhibition by Open Satellite artist in residence Hilary Wilder. Brooklyn, New York and Richmond, Virginia based artist Hilary Wilder investigates painting as a construction of reality and a structure of knowledge. Through the lens of landscape, which serves as a dynamic metaphor for human experience, Wilder introduces narratives and compositions that are held in tension between fact and fiction, order and disorder, stability and chaos, and the real and ideal. For her residency at Open Satellite, Wilder has created an ambitious painting installation that is site-specific in her consideration of the space of the gallery, which provides a structural framework for her dramatic canvases. In the context of the Pacific Northwest, Wilder’s thematic concerns offer a contemporary dialogue about landscapes and identity as well as a critique of place, history, and the environment. Opening reception 6-9 pm. Exhibition Dates: February 21 – April 5, 2008.

Hilary Wilder, In Progress, opening at Open Satellite

Frye Art Museum – “Reframing the Nineteenth Century: Collecting Art at the Frye.” Charles and Emma Frye amassed an impressive collection of nineteenth and twentieth-century art, one which in many ways challenged prevailing canons of aesthetic taste during the late Victorian era. This lecture, led by Susan P. Casteras, department of art history, University of Washington, places the Fryes' often bold purchases and vision in a larger context of collecting by American patrons, especially that of Horace Henry, exploring how their choices embraced diverse styles and attitudes. 6:30 pm, free and open to the public.

Tacoma Art Walk – From 5-8 pm, galleries, museums, and participating locations hold special events and activities.

Tacoma Art Museum – During the Tacoma Artwalk, “Exquisite Corpse” beginning at 6:30 pm. Invented by surrealist artists in 1925, “exquisite corpse” is a participatory art experiment that explores ideas of chance, fragments, collage, and forms that emerge out of chaos. Artist Shannon Eakins will lead this interactive group-drawing activity. Programming and museum admission from 10 am – 8 pm are free as part of FREE Third Thursday.

Upper Queen Anne Artwalk - From 6-8 pm, rain or shine.

Art/Not Terminal Gallery – “Figure Drawing Session.” Every 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Thursday, Art/Not Terminal hosts Boys R Us, a group figure drawing session featuring male models. Coffee, tea, cookies, music, conversation, and art creation from 6:30-9:30 pm. $8 for participants.

Friday, February 22

Seattle Art Museum – “A Roman Holiday: Public Opening Weekend” for new exhibition Roman Art from the Louvre. From Feb 22 – Feb 24, SAM hosts a great roster of events throughout the entire building. Friday’s events include a guided tour at 6:30 pm and a lecture on ‘The Three Faces of Rome: Ancient, Christian, and Opera’ at 7 pm. Check here for a full schedule of events. Free with Museum Admission.

Northwest Film Forum – Northwest Film Forum and the Henry Art Gallery present “The Cool School.” Filmmaker Morgan Neville explores the emergence and impact of the beat-era LA art scene, focusing on its catalyst: Walter Hopps's and Ed Kienholz's Ferus gallery, a simple space with grand ambitions. Ferus hosted Andy Warhol's first gallery show (his 32 Campbell's Soup Cans did not debut in New York!) and Marcel Duchamp's first retrospective. The Cool School's collage of period footage, and interviews with Ed Ruscha, John Baldessari, Walter Hopps, Dennis Hopper, and Frank Gehry create a vivid picture of this inspiring scene that ultimately established the importance of West Coast art. Showing February 22 – 28, at 7:15 pm and 9:15 pm each night. On opening night, February 22, enjoy a special introduction and post-screening conversation with Regina Hackett, Seattle Post-Intelligencer Visual Arts Critic. $5 NWFF and Henry Art Gallery Members / $6 Seniors & Children / $8.50 General. For tickets call 800.838.3006 or visit brownpapertickets.com.


Saturday, February 23

Seattle Art Museum – “A Roman Holiday: Public Opening Weekend” for new exhibition Roman Art from the Louvre. From Feb 22 – Feb 24, SAM hosts a great roster of events throughout the entire building. Saturday from 10 am – 3 pm is Family Day: Rome the World, a day of hands-on art activities and events. Free with Museum Admission.

Museum of Glass – Opening day for new exhibition “Lino Tagliapietra in Retrospect: A Modern Renaissance in Italian Glass.” Widely regarded as one of the most significant artists in the modern studio glass movement, there has never been a retrospective look at Lino Tagliapietra’s art and career in its entirety. This exhibition will represent not only pivotal and renowned series of artistic work covering a period of approximately thirty years, but also designs made for industry and private objects that have never been exhibited. February 23 - August 24, 2008.

G. Gibson Gallery – Artist reception and artist talk for “Laura McPhee: River of No Return.” 3 pm.

Laura McPhee, Igloo Built from Downloaded Plans, Park Creek, Custer County, Idaho, March 2005

Henry Art Gallery – “Hilary Wilder Artist Lecture.” Current Open Satellite artist Hilary Wilder's practice investigates painting, as a structure of knowledge and a construction of reality. Working directly on the wall and inserting canvases into complex systems, her dynamic works critique painting as a mode of representation, specifically questioning the concept of the romantic, picturesque, and sublime within the landscape tradition. Her compositions are held in tension between ideas of order and disorder, stability and chaos, and the real and ideal. 4 pm, Free.

Sunday, February 24

Seattle Art Museum – “A Roman Holiday: Public Opening Weekend” for new exhibition Roman Art from the Louvre. From Feb 22 – Feb 24, SAM hosts a great roster of events throughout the entire building. On Sunday at 2 pm, come hear the story only the curators could tell about the history and society of ancient Rome as reflected in the Louvre collection in “The History of Society: The Story of Ancient Rome.” Free with Museum Admission.

Frye Art Museum – “Comic Book Style on Film.” Many talented film directors have approximated the comic-book style in movies, including Jean Luc Godard’s Alphaville (1965), Richard Lester’s Superman II (1980), and Warren Beatty’s Dick Tracy (1990). Now, digital technology has made it possible to dazzlingly replicate the frames of a comic, notably in the Frank Miller adaptations Sin City (2005) and 300 (2006). Robert Horton ponders the value of this aesthetic and decides when it works . . .and when it doesn’t. Audience discussion with film clips. 2 pm, free and open to the public.